Thursday, April 30, 2015

The map above was found during a Google search for images of the battle of Kolin, fought in June 1757. You can purchase a full size version through the Bridgeman Art Collection on line. The copy shown here does not do justice to the coloring of the map.

My search is a result of hearing that Christopher Duffy will present a lecture on Kolin at next year's Seven Years War Association convention on March 31 through April 2, 2016 in South Bend, Indiana. I have also heard that Professor Duffy is working on a new book about Kolin and this is very exciting news indeed.

With Duffy, Kolin and the SYWA Convention all in one place, what better time to bring my Kolin terrain boards and get ready to host it as a game at next year's convention, using all Minden Miniatures.

More on this later.

I am back in research mode now figuring out a way to make this scenario a playable war game. I've probably done Kolin four or five times now, but none of them left me with the feeling that I had done it right. For now, I'm jotting down lots of notes about the forces, the timing of their arrival at Krechor village and hill, and making up lists of what I need in the way of painted figures to do the game.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

We left off the other day with two game turns under our belt: the Austrian and Prussian cavalry were whaling away on one another while the infantry were still marching into musket range. The Battle of Mollwitz continued today and reached a conclusion within six game turns.

The rules used were Der Alte Fritz Rules for SYW Games, which are my own rules that I have been using at conventions for nearly fifteen years. You can download a free copy at the Fife & Drum Miniatures website

I played the game solo and before anyone wonders if Der Alte Fritz Himself can play it straight with the Austrians in a solo game, let me review my solo gaming methodology.

Simply put, I place myself in the shoes of either side and ask myself, "what would the Austrians want to do and what moves would be to their best advantage?" I do the same for the Prussians. I figure that if I temporarily do what benefits the side that I'm moving figures and firing weapons for, then an impartial result can be achieved. Finally, I do not care which side wins when I play a solo game. While I prefer the Prussians, I find it interesting when the Austrians can give Frederick a surprise pounding once in awhile.

Let us go with the game report, told mostly through the picture captions. At the start of Turn 3, with my Austrian hat on, I decided that sitting back with my infantry and waiting to get gunned down by the Prussian infantry was not profitable. With that in mind, my plan for the Austrians (who were outnumbered in infantry 9 battalions to 6 battalion) was to extend the front battle line of battalions and seek a place where I could place more muskets to bear on the Prussians than they could train on me. So on Turn 3, the grenadier battalion on the Austrian right flank moved out of the second row and extended the first battle line. The 1st battalion of the Josef Esterhazy (Hungarians) likewise did the same on the Austrian left flank.

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The Esterhazy regiment forms column and marches off to the right end of the Austrian battle line.

After deploying into line on Turn 4, you can see how the Esterhazy regiment could potentially flank the Prussian far left flank of their front battle line.

On the Austrian right flank, the grand cavalry battle continued. Prussian cuirassier regiment CR1 Krakow took on the red coated Austrian Saxe Gotha Dragoons and was getting the better of them. In the background though, the second squaderon of CR1 was surrounded by Austrian cuirassiers and cut down to the man.

Another cavalry scrum in the same vicinity was more evenly fought: Prussian CR8 von Seydlitz cuirassiers on the left and the Alt Modena Austrian cuirassiers (in blue facings and shabraques) on the right.

By Turn 4, both sides' infantry were finally in musket range (foot move 8-inches in line formation) and from this point on, winning the initiative each turn (via a dice off of both sides, high die wins) was important. We use an IGO/UGO systems: if you choose to move first, then you can only fire second, after your opponent fires at you. So if you really need to move first, you surrender the firing initiative. Most of the time, you want to move second and fire first.

At the end of Turn 4, the Prussian left hand brigade has siddled sideways to the left to counter the Austrian extension of their front battle line with the red trousered Esterhazy regiment. A bit of a gap begins to form in the Prussian center as a result of this movement.

The Prussian lefthand brigade continues to veer to the left, but this time it is done with purpose so that the IR5 Alt Braunschweig battalion can move from the second line forward into the gap.

On Turn 5, the cumulative effect of musketry and 3-pound battalion guns had caused the Austrian 1st btn of the von Sprecher regiment to rout, running straight through the red legged Hungarian 2/Esterhazy, which was directly behind them. Their rout carried them right into the face of the Austrian commander von Neipperg inside the hamlet of Mollwitz.

The 1st btn of the Esterhazy continued to siddle to its left to outflank the IR1 von Winterfeldt regiment's second battalion. IR1 swung back in response, creating a kink in the battle line.

Over on the Prussian right flank, all of the Prussian cavalry (save for one squadron shown at the lower right) had been run off the field. The Austrians began to reform their heavy cavalry to take a run at the Prussian artillery battery in front of them.

A view of the field at the start of Turn 6. You can see the gap in the center of the Austrian battle line. Off in the upper right corner, the Austrian cavalry threatens the Prussian right flank regiments.

Austrian heavy cavalry

Austrian cavalry goes crashing into the Prussian battery. The left most cannon stopped the understrength squadron of red coated Austrian Saxe Gotha Dragoons, while the right hand section of guns actually won the melee with the fresh squadron of Schmerzing Cuirassiers. The dice gods did not look kindly on the Austrians this day.

On the Prussian left, things are at a stand-off, although a fresh battalion (2/IR5) provides back up in the second line, whereas the Austrians no longer have a reserve second line.

At the end of Turn 6, Prussian musketry from the Righthand brigade has obliterated the Austrian left brigade. With no center or left, things look grim for the White Coats today. Von Neipperg decides that it is pointless to keep charging his cavalry into the Prussian wall of muskets, and with no center, he orders a general withdrawal from the field.

King Frederick is congratulated by Marshal Schwerin (right) for his victory.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Prussian cuirassiers are surrounded by the Austrians in the cavalry melee. (click pix to enlarge).

This evening I fought the first two turns of the Battle of Mollwitz using my own Der Alte Fritz rules. A free copy of the rules is available on the Fife & Drum web site ( Free SYW Rules ).

The forces are relatively equal in size, but are asymetrical in troop types. The Austrian army has 7 infantry battalions 8 squadrons of heavy cavalry (cuirassiers and dragoons) and 3 cannon. The Prussian army has 4 squadrons of cuirassiers and 9 battalions of infantry and 5 cannon.

I set up the Austrian cavalry so that it was on the flank of the Prussian cavalry, but needed two turns to close with the Prussians. I may tweak this a bit and position the Austrians within 14-inches of the Prussian right flank cavalry so that they can melee on the first turn.

The Prussian cavalry won the first initiative on Turn 1 and as a result, they were able to turn facing to the right and meet the initial Austrian cavalry charge head-on.

As for the infantry, they move 8-inches per turn, in line formation, and they still have not closed to within musket range. However, after the first turn, both sides were able to find the range with their artillery and inflict some long range fire on the opposing infantry lines as the Prussians advanced.

All figures are Minden Miniatures and all of the terrain was built by Herb Gundt. The Winter game mat was made by The Terrain Guy (alas, he is out of business now).

I will let the picture captions tell the story:

The opening set up: Prussians on the right, Austrians on the left.

Turn 1: Austrians open the battle with a grand cavalry charge on the Prussian right flank.

Turn 1: Same moment of the charge, but from overhead. Austrian cavalry is on the right and top with the Prussian cavalry in the left corner.

Turn 2: cavalry melee on the Prussian right just before the Austrian Schmerzing Cuirassiers plow into the flank and rear of a squadron of CR1 von Krakow Cuirassiers.

Turn 2: Prussians are holding their own on the lefthand melee, but are hit front and rear in the righthand melee by the Austrians.

Prussian 12-pounder artillery battery faces the righthand section toward the cavalry melee in case the Austrians win the melee and break through the lines.

Turn 1: infantry advance on the Prussian left flank.

Turn 2: overhead view of the infantry battle.

Austrian right flank (Prussian left flank) brigade deploys in front of Mollwitz.

Prussian left flank brigade advances towards Mollwitz.

At the end of Turn 2, it looked like the Prussian cavalry of the right flank was holding its own against the Austrian cavalry. Both sides had lost, or were about to lose, a 12-figure squadron of heavy cavalry from either routing or melee.

If the Prussian cavalry holds the Austrian horse to a stand-off, then it will lead to a Prussian victory, in all likelihood, as the Prussians outnumber the Austrian infantry 9 battalions to 7 battalions.

(more action will be posted Friday evening or Saturday morning as I continue the battle)

Thursday, April 16, 2015

(the following article was written by Martin Tomczak and posted on his website: Tomczak SYW Site along with a number of other interesting SYW related documents)

Frederick the Great wrote that the foundation
of an army is the stomach; as such the most important requirement if the army
was to operate effectively in the field was to keep the stomachs of men and
horses filled such that the men could carry on marching and fighting and the
horses could pull the guns and wagons and carry the cavalrymen into battle. The
most important materials involved were flour for bread for the men, and fodder
for the horses. This meant that a regular supply of flour was one of the most
vital aspects of all when the army was in the field, and Frederick had a
corresponding organisation in place to ensure that it was available in magazines
before a campaign began, and subsequently could be brought to the army in the
field such that the supply was regular and sufficient. The carrying capacity of
wagons could be measured exactly and this meant that exact calculations could
be made of how much flour an army would need over a certain period, and
arrangements could be made to transport it accordingly.

Once the flour reached the army it would be
converted into bread by the bakers with the army. These were civilians, with a
staff of Bäckergesellen (Journeyman Bakers) working under Oberbäcker
(literally "Higher Bakers") and Bäckermeister (Master Bakers)
and as such subject to their own rules regarding discipline, and on three
occasions during the Seven Years War the fact that they were civilians working
within their structure of Guilds caused the outbreak of revolts that threatened
the army with possible starvation.

Jung-Bunzlau,
Bohemia 1757

During the Siege of Prague in 1757 the
bakeries were operating at Jung-Bunzlau in Bohemia. When the army under Feldmarschall
von Schwerin continued its march to Prague they were left there with the whole Feldkriegscommissariat
(the organisation responsible for organising supply for the army) under the
command of Generalmajor von Brandeis and two regiments of infantry. The
bakery at Jung-Bunzlau had to supply the army on one side of Prague during the
siege, and also the army under the Duke of Bevern at Czaslau and Kuttenberg,
with both forces having to collect the bread and transport it in their Regimentsproviantwagen
("regimental provisions wagons"). At one point during the process of
collection several officers felt that the bread was being supplied too slowly
and it came to a disagreement with the Bäckermeister, which resulted in
the officers beating them with sticks. The Bäckergesellen were so angry
at this maltreatment of their masters that they beat the officers up, so
severely that they had to be carried into the town from the bakery, which was
in the suburbs.

Generalmajor von Brandeis sent a detail to the bakery to arrest the bakers; they all
resisted and the soldiers arrested some of them and took them away as
prisoners. This caused a greater uproar, and two companies of troops with fixed
bayonets dispersed the bakers. The rumour now spread that von Brandeis intended
to punish all the bakers with Spiessruthenlaufen ("running the
gauntlet"), so during the night they all marched away with their
belongings.

This revolt, caused by the actions of a few
hotheaded officers, put the army and the Kriegscommissariat into great
difficulties. It was essential that 100,000 loaves of bread were baked every
three days, instead the bakery had now stood idle for three days and two
nights. The need became critical, and von Brandeis was obliged, however much he
may have disliked doing so, to free the few bakers under arrest and to urge the
Bäckermeister (who it had been established were not responsible for the
delays which caused the original dispute) to use all their influence to get the
Bäckergesellen, who by now were dispersing in all directions, back to
work. As a result of the promise that the whole matter would be forgotten they
succeeded in getting the bakery back to work, and the bakers made great efforts
to catch up on the missed baking.

Hirschberg,
Silesia 1758

A second revolt occurred at Hirschberg in
Silesia during winter quarters, when several Bäckergesellen went for a
ride to Warmebrunn and returned late after drinking too long in an inn. It was
decided they were to suffer military punishment. The other journeymen regarded
this as an insult to their Corporation and promised the Obercommissar
the stiffest punishment of the wrongdoers by the Bäckermeister. The Obercommissar
persuaded the military authorites to do this and the wrongdoers were each given
a number of blows with sticks by the Bäckermeister in his presence. As a
result the bakery got back to normal.

Königswalde,
Neumark 1760

The third
revolt, which resulted from the pride in their trade of the guilds, occurred in
1760 when the two corps under Prince Henry and Generallieutenantvon der
Goltz combined in the Neumark. The Feldkriegscommissariat ordered that
the bakeries of both corps be combined at Königswalde. The Silesian bakers of
the von der Goltz corps, who were white bread bakers, refused to work with the
Prussian bakers of Prince Henry`s corps, on the grounds that they were only
black bread bakers, and were therefore beneath them. The Silesian bakers
considered the order from the Feldkriegscommissariat so insulting to
their pride as bakers, and the bitterness between the two groups was such, that
the only solution was to keep the two groups separate, and there were duly two
bakeries outside the town, on opposite sides of it.

Conclusion

During the later years of the Seven Years War
the officer responsible for overseeing the bakeries, Hauptmann von
Fuhrmann, was very keen to organise the bakers along military lines. This
proved impossible, because it was incompatible with the spirit of Corporation
among the bakers, who were civilians in their guilds; they had no objection at
all to being punished by the higher ranking bakers by being beaten with sticks,
but any attempt to bring them to the guardroom under military arrest would have
led to very bloody rebellions.

This is another example of how the generally
highly organised armies of the period were still not fully militarised in some
aspects of their structure. A regular supply of bread was one of the most
essential requirements of all for an army in the field, and huge stocks of
flour would be built up and maintained in specially-built magazines in
peacetime. Then during wartime the supply of bread depended on civilians with
their own organisation. Another example of civilians in the military
organisation is with the Prussian artillery, where horses and drivers (who were
all civilians) would be assembled on the outbreak of war, or at the beginning
of a campaign; on a battlefield they were among the first to flee if things
went against the Prussians, and this was one reason why the Prussians lost
large numbers of guns in their defeats (the Prussians did not have a fully
military Train until one was established during the army reforms after
1806).

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

I want to draw your attention to the Kingdom of Hesse Seewald blog ( Here )where a lot of things are happening of late. The Hesse Seewald army is growing at a rapid clip with two new regiments being added within the past 30 days and a couple more on the painting table nearly ready to go.

Please click on the link above and visit the Kingdom of Hesse Seewald. While you are there, why not become a Follower so that you can keep up to date on events. Suffice to say that dark war clouds are on the horizon.

Back here on this blog, I expect to start the Battle of Mollwitz on Friday night, with pictorial updates to be posted over the weekend.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

I had to clear my game table of the AWI period Trenton terrain to make way for my recreation of the Battle of Mollwitz fought on April 10, 1741 between Prussia and Austria.

Here are some progressive pictures of the table set up. Since I'm posting this in the iPad version of Blogger, the pictures are not clickable or enlargeable, but I will fix the pictures this evening on my desktop computer.

Trenton terrain.

The buildings and roads are removed.

Trees and other flotsam and jetsam are now gone.

Setting up the 18th Century European Winter terrain pieces, all made by Herb Gundt.

Out come the troops, all Minden Miniatures of course; Austrians on the left and Prussians on the right.

Tweaking the Prussian right wing cavalry to position them so that they can be reached by an Austrian charge movement (14 inches) on Turn One.

The Prussian right flank infantry deployment.

A view down the entire Prussian line.

Austrian cavalry on their left wing.

And finally, a view of Austrian general Neipperg and staff in the town of Mollwitz.

I work on the assumption that some of the emotions and thoughts I experience are common to several, perhaps thousands of others. When I am working on a wargaming project or painting a range of figures I get a very deep sense of engagement with the activity. It is all I can think about. In idle time I am making lists and planning what to buy and paint next. I search out information, make little painting schedules, all the time trying to beat my self imposed targets. I look at the models again and again, set them up in rows, watch the collection accrue into something more substantial and marvel at the sense of joy I obtain from doing it all. I often tell myself it's the best work I have ever done.-- Barry Hilton

**************

1) Getting a deep sense of engagement with the activity-- Guilty as charged. Once I start on a project I get very focused and zero in on the project to the exclusion of other historical periods. If my home library lacks books on the subject, I start firing off orders to Ken Trotman or On Military Matters or Caliver Books to remedy the short fall.

2) In idle time, I am making lists and planning what to buy and paint next -- Yep, that too. I have a one hour train commute to and from my job and I often find myself pulling a small Moleskin journal out of my briefcase and start drawing up army lists and orders of battle and deciding how many figures should go into a battalion, etc.

3) I search out information, make little painting schedules, all the time trying to beat my self imposed targets -- my journal has lists of painting schedules. For example, if my new army will have 12 foot and 4 cavalry units in it, then I jot down a weekly or monthly painting schedule to figure out when my new army will be completed.

4) I look at the models again and again, set them up in rows -- This has developed into a very bad habit. I will set the troops out onto the game table for either a review or for an actual game. I will move around the table examining the various units, stooping down so that my eyes are at table level for the best view of the regiment. I can do this for an hour or more. It becomes a problem if I pay a visit to the game table late at night, and before I know it, the clock reads 1 or 2 am in the morning. It can make for a tiring day the next day. Lots of coffee or Diet Coke are the only remedy. Kids, do not attempt to do this at home on your own.

5) watch the collection accrue into something more substantial and marvel at the sense of joy I obtain from doing it all -- This is the fun part, watching the army grow. At first it is only one regiment of infantry. Impressive but lonely. Then a second and third unit are completed and I now have a brigade. Once the brigade is ready, I will paint a couple of field artillery pieces and crew. Then one brigade becomes two brigades. Now the project begins to look like a Wargame army. I can see light at the end of the tunnel and develop a sense of what the final product will look like.

I think that Barry's paragraph correctly encapsulates what the planning and building aspect of the hobby are all about. We all make our little lists and while away spare time thinking and day dreaming about the whole thing.

It brings to me a sense of calm, contentment and accomplishment and sometimes I actually think that this part of the hobby is more enjoyable than the gaming part.

What do you think? Please feel free to add a comment at the bottom of this thread and let me know what you think.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Today is the 274th anniversary of Frederick the Great's first victory of his military career at the Battle of Mollwitz.

Some would say that it was actually Marshall Schwerin's victory since he persuaded young Fritz to go on the lam and flee for his safety when it appeared that the Prussians might lose the battle.
﻿
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Marshal Schwerin

Here is a map of the battle, clearly illustrating the pickle that the Prussians found themselves in when their right cavalry wing was outflanked by Romer's Austrian cavalry:

I doubt that there are many cavalry regiments that could stand up to such a disadvantage. Nevertheless, Prussian infantry won the day as two spare battalions of infantry, having nowhere to deploy in the battle lines, fortuitously positioned themselves on the right flank of the army, thereby creating a virtual army square that was cavalry proof.

After fending off th Austrian cavalry attack, the Prussian infantry advanced and mowed down the Austrian infantry in the center. End of battle and an outcome that shocked the Western World: upstart Prussia defeated the mighty Habsburg empire.

Here is a link to a useful site call Obscure Battles that covers Mollwitz and provides a good account of the battle, taken from Duffy's books and from the Robert Asprey book:

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Today, I received notice that Stephen Summerfield's book on the Hanoverian Army of the SYW is being published with an expected release at the Salute game convention in the UK at the end of April. The publisher is Ken Trotman Books.

You can see sample pages of the book at academia.edu (you will have to register to the site and then do an author search to find the PDF files depicting some of the pages.

While I can't copy the preview pages on this site, let me say that the work is Stunningly Good. The copy of the dust jacket of the book, shown above, should give you an indication of the quality of the graphics in the book.

It includes lots of color drawings of the uniforms of every Hanoverian infantry, cavalry and artillery regiment. Stephen appears to have found a lot of information on the Hanoverian Artillery component of the army. This is something that has long been missing from the usual sources that wargamers use for Hanoverian army information. On this basis alone, the book looks like a must buy.

DUE FOR PUBLICATION AT SALUTE 25 APRIL 2015: STEPHEN SUMMERFIELD HANOVERIAN ARMY OF THE SEVEN YEARS WAR: UNIFORMS, ORGANISATION AND EQUIPMENT. 256pp., illustrated in colour throughout. 2015. Stephen's latest superb uniforms book is simply magnificent, simply outstanding. This volume explores the uniforms, organisation and equipment of the Hanoverian Army during the reign of George II (1727-60) to the end of the Seven Years War in 1763 under George III (1760-1820). In addition it covers the Saxe-Gotha Infantry Regiment, the Schaumburg-Lippe contingent and the various Light Troops in Anglo-Hanoverian pay. The massive amount of illustration comes from contemporary sources as well as Brauer, Knotel & Schirmer. But the real joy are Stephen's meticulously reconstructed flags and standards. This will become the essential work for years to come.